Events

Date: 23 October 2019 (Wed)
Time: 12:00nn – 2:00pm
Venue: Conference Room, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies
(Rm 505, Esther Lee Bldg., Chung Chi College, CUHK)
Speaker: Prof. Susanne Y P Choi (Co-director, Gender Research Centre; Professor, Department of Sociology, CUHK)

On 23 Oct 2019, Gender Research Center (GRC) held the annual orientation for the new academic year, and we were very delighted to welcome more than 70 participants attending the event.

In the orientation talk, Prof. Susanne Choi, the co-director of GRC, gave a presentation entitled “Gender and Leaderless Protest: Mothers and Female Fighters in Hong Kong’s 2019 Pro-Democracy Movement”. Traditionally, women have largely been marginalized in social movement, either by being overlooked and unacknowledged or asked to take up the support roles that conforms to the gender stereotypes. Through interviews with female protesters and her first-hand experience in a mothers’ protest group during the Anti-Extradition Movement, Prof. Choi attempted to explore whether the leaderless characteristic of the current movement have enabled women to overcome traditional marginalization and the gendered division of labor. She also investigated the ways in which the gendered body is mobilized in the movement, especially through social media.

According to Prof. Choi, women have been active in the anti-extradition movement, with the number of female protesters being nearly the same as men. While women’s body and experience of sexual violence have been used as the symbols of the movement with mobilizing power, women are also participating in the movement in a variety of roles, from neighbors, mothers, non-violent protesters to front-line fighters. The leaderless situation of the current movement has, to some extent, provided women and girls with the possibility to break away from the patriarchal control and gender stereotype; but at the same time, with the government’s increasing crackdown on the movement, they are also presented to unexpected challenges and threats, such as the sexual violence targeting female protesters.

During the orientation gathering that followed the talk, Prof. Raees Baig, the other co-director of GRC, briefly introduced the history and previous work of GRC and launched the new themes of GRC for the 2019-2020. In response to the current situation in Hong Kong and aiming to contribute to discussion and practice of the movement through the gender lens, “Gender and Social Movement” and “Gender and Violence” will be two of the main themes that guide GRC’s work in this new academic year. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you are interested in working with us!